Effects of strip and single-tree selection cutting on birds and their habitat in a southwestern Quebec northern hardwood forest

In the northern hardwood forest of northeastern North America, ecological and social perceptions call for forest management systems using reduced-impact silviculture such as single-tree selection cutting and small clearcuts. When applied over large areas, single-tree selection cut and small clearcut systems are likely to generate different local habitat structures and spatio-temporal habitat distribution in the landscape. This study assessed the effects of strip cutting and single-tree selection cutting on forest breeding birds when extensively applied in a northern hardwood forest in southwestern Quebec, a decade after timber harvest. Birds were surveyed twice during two consecutive breeding seasons by 270 point counts, equally distributed in a single-tree selection cut forest, a strip cut forest, and an untreated forest. At each point count, habitat features and horizontal heterogeneity of these features were measured. Managed forest habitats had a much more developed understory, fewer snags and more downed woody debris. Horizontal heterogeneity was higher in the strip cut forest and lower in the single-tree selection cut forest. Of the 20 bird species analyzed, 13 showed a difference in abundance between at least two of the three treatments. Dendroica pensylvanica was mostly seen in the treated forests while Dendroica virens and Seiurus aurocapillus were more abundant in the untreated forest. Pheucticus ludovicianus was twice as abundant in the strip cut forest, while Catharus ustulatus was more frequently observed in the single-tree selection cut forest. Habitat vertical structure variables that differed among the three treatments were the most correlated with bird abundance. The results of this study support the use of a mix of silvicultural systems within the same forest in order to sustain habitat diversity for maintaining the regional avian cortege.